‘Party’ nurse Rebecca Leighton murder tally rises to five

A round of saline solution for party of five at my table please. If trust a nurse things are getting rather dire. Might be time to change planets.

Rebecca Leighton, the ‘party’ nurse has seen the death toll from her alleged hospital murder spree rise to five overnight.

Two more patients have died at Stepping Hill Hospital near Manchester, where detectives believe saline solution was deliberately contaminated with insulin.

The 27-year-old nurse was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder over the deaths of three patients. One man is said to remain critically ill. Which under the circumstances is something to be grateful for considering the normal standard of Rebecca Leighton’s care.

Police believe someone deliberately tampered with a batch of saline and nine other patients may also have been affected.

Investigators will also be reviewing previous deaths at the hospital for any evidence of foul play.

“I can confirm that there have been two further deaths that we are linking to the investigation into deliberate contamination of medical products,” Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters outside the hospital.

An 83-year-old man had died earlier on Thursday, while an 84-year-old woman had died on July 14, he said. Her case was referred to the police following medical procedures.

“This is a complex investigation and we are awaiting the results of medical tests to confirm the causes of death of all those that we are currently investigating.”

Detectives have always linked the deaths of a 44-year-old woman and two men aged 84 and 71 to the contamination.

Police were called in last week after a nurse reported a higher than normal number of patients on her ward with “unexplained” low blood sugar levels, pointing to saline ampoules being sabotaged.

Officers found insulin had contaminated a batch of 36 saline ampoules in a hospital store room.